Thursday, 3 July 2014

RBI seeks contributions to exchange gold for improve the quality of reserves

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday said it searched for contributions from banks to exchange gold for their own vaults of gold international level with the aim of improving managing its reserves.

The RBI said the deal would "normalize gold available at RBI in India regarding to international standards" and gold purchased would be delivered to the foreign custodian, the Bank of England.

With the holding of gold stocks in London, the RBI could be become more flexible in order to mobilize if necessary to defend the currency. It is sent to some of its gold holdings to Britain in 1991 as part of a series of emergency actions to deal with a financial crisis.

With leadership from Governor Raghuram Rajan, named last year, the RBI has attempted to upgrade its market operations and enhancing the management of the foreign exchange and gold reserves are a total value of around $ 315 billion.

According to the World Gold Council, India has the 11 largests gold reserves of 557 tons. At current market prices, which would be worth almost $ 24 billion. It was not immediately clear how much of that is to be exchanged.

"RBI, in consultation with the government, decide what further amount that exchange-rate, timed, etc. Gold to be exchanged is concerned," the RBI said in a email reply to questions from Reuters.

The Economic Times informed previously that RBI had probed bankers into a relatively impure, plan to exchange some old gold which has been lying in its own arches since before the independence in 1947.